Emergent Research

EMERGENT RESEARCH is focused on better understanding the small business sector of the US and global economy.

Authors

The authors are Steve King and Carolyn Ockels. Steve and Carolyn are partners at Emergent Research and Senior Fellows at the Society for New Communications Research. Carolyn is leading the coworking study and Steve is a member of the project team.

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So where does that leave 3-D printing? It is a revolutionary technology best suited for unique products for both consumer and business uses, but the process is not efficient enough for mass production. "The technology will be used in production in cases where demand is sporadic or where true customization is required. Those are not insignificant uses, but I don't see how the technologies will be revolutionary or disruptive in manufacturing," notes Karl Ulrich, Wharton's vice dean of innovation and professor of operations and information management.

Some argue that the technology will revolutionize manufacturing, empowering entrepreneurs in fields from the automotive to medical industries. “Just as desktop publishing transformed how we write, we think desktop manufacturing will transform how we create,” declares a Microsoft blog post.

It's just a question of timing.

Over the next 3-5 years expect 3D printing to continue to expand it's role in the manufacturing of highly customized and limited production run parts and products.

Also expect rapid growth in the use of 3D printers by small manufacturing firms and skilled craftsmen/women. They will use 3D printers to deliver niche and highly customized products. They will also increasingly use 3D printers like large firms do, to improve their industrial design and prototyping processes.

But the reality is 3D printing is still an immature technology. Its use will continue to be constrained by material limitations, the cost of materials, the amount of time required to make a product and imperfections in the printing process.

All of these will be fixed with time, but don't expect to be able to ask your 3D printer for "tea, Earl Grey, hot" for at least another decade or so.